Live-Action 'Fullmetal Alchemist' Movie Is Thankfully Not Atrocious; Inevitably Diluted and Disappointing Nonetheless

For me, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (the true anime adaptation of the manga, as the first Fullmetal Alchemist anime series has a completely different story, but is great as well) is one of the greatest anime series ever made.  It’s conceptually inspired and extremely well-written, exhilarating and riveting.  Thus, I’ve always been wary of a live-action movie adaptation for it.  Not only because live-action adaptations of anime have a bad record – for every Blade of the Immortal, there are ten Attack on Titan – but because it’ll always feel underwhelming, for it is virtually impossible for one movie (or a few) to truly emulate the quality development that arose from 64 episodes.  Even when peripherals are cut off, leaving just the essentials, a live-action adaptation still won’t have the time to thoroughly explore the intricacies and depth of the anime’s storylines and characters.

Hence, right from the start, I was already expecting the live-action Fullmetal Alchemist movie to fall short.  It’s inevitable, especially with something as complex as Fullmetal Alchemist.  Nevertheless, I was hoping it would still be enjoyable and worthwhile to a degree.  Or, at the very least, it wouldn’t suck.

Well, it isn’t a dumpster fire like Dragonball Evolution, thankfully.  It’s not an atrocity against its source material.  It still is disappointing though, especially since it actually starts with promise.

I enjoyed the first 45 minutes or so.  But, as it progresses, the inherent key limitation of a live-action film adaptation, which I mentioned above, manifests itself, bringing the movie downhill.  Since it lacks time to explore things, it’s forced to have tons of exposition scenes to dump information.  And with the action and spectacles few and far between, it can get boring and pretentious.

Moreover, though it has some solid castings – especially the actors for Roy Mustang and Maes Hughes, who are perfect – the lack of time prevents characters from being developed and peeled off effectively.  The Elric Brothers don’t come off as a tremendous duo.  The Homunculi appears one-dimensional.  Roy Mustang’s multi-layered characterization is criminally abandoned.  And (SPOILERS) Hughes’ death lacks impact, as the audience isn’t given enough time and shown enough of his life to deeply care for him.

In relation to this, many important characters are absent, particularly fan-favorite Alex Louis Armstrong.  Again, it’s because there’s no time to show them.  The absence of certain characters compromises the emotional weight of some scenes or events.  For example, (SPOILERS) the absence of Elicia Hughes (she’s still in her mother’s tummy in the movie) precludes the heartbreaking interment scene of Maes Hughes.

However, one iconic scene that is as potent in live-action as it is in anime is the Nina Tucker/Alexander scene.  It’s brilliantly chilling.  In fact, maybe even more so than the anime, because of the great CGI chimera, as the accentuated, pseudo-realistic look of the tragic, abominable creature makes it significantly more unsettling than when it’s just hand-drawn animation.

The biggest positive of this film is probably how quite good it looks.  The costumes and production design are impeccable.  The cinematography is as striking as the best live-action anime films I’ve seen.  And most of the CGI work is pretty superb (again, a big reason why the Nina Tucker/Alexander scene worked).  I say “most” because it does have some CGI that looked unconvincing and messy (e.g. Gluttony and the white alchemy ghouls at the end).  On the other hand, I was very pleased by how amazing Alphonse looked.

To sum it up, there are three things that I notably love (yes, love) about this movie: 1.) the casting for Roy Mustang (especially him, since he’s a favorite character of mine) and Maes Hughes; 2.) the Nina Tucker/Alexander scene; and 3.) the CGI Al.  As for the other aspects of this film, my reaction is either “That’s okay” or “Meh.”  There isn’t anything particular that I strongly hated.  All in all, it’s an unsatisfying adaptation.  It’s diluted, as expected, and nowhere is it near the greatness of the anime.  But, at least, it didn’t make my blood boil.